Friarpuk

Pud I will put my appology in now! I am flying over to WA (via Qantas) on the 31st of May so I can collect my bird from Katanning and fly her back to Kingaroy in Qld. But I wish you blokes in the west all the best. I did enjoy the event in 2012 and would have liked to be there again. Maybe one day!

I have just been through the rego and re licencing process. When I finally got the two plastic cards I realised the renewal dates on the cards in twelve months didn't compensate for the two or three weeks I spent waiting. I reckon when they print the cards/process the paper work, the pilot/owner should be compensated a couple of weeks extra. Especially when he/she has put the paper work in with plenty of time to spare. Just a thought!

I have a folding wing kit that I've never installed. If someone wants it, offers are welcome. BTW Scott I fly to WA on the 31st of May!

We'll see what the weather's doing closer to the time! It will be probably the 2nd or 3rd by the time I say g'day to a few mates in Katanning and give the Skyranger a few good runs since I haven't flown her since the start of the year.

Amen !

I had the same problem with my tacho and found that my instrument circuit breaker was failing. At first the tacho was jumping then after awhile the oil pressure and temp and cht started dropping. It seemed the tacho was more sensitive than the other instruments. Put in a new circuit breaker and problem fixed. And Scott does have a passenger on the hand held video camera!

Okay, the Qantas flight is booked from Bris to Perth for Friday the 31st of May. Then the real flying will begin from Katanning to Kingaroy, in between the fronts with a good westerly up the rear, hopefully!

Hope you have a good flight and tail winds! I have interesting memories back tracking with a 737 at Kal!

So does this Skyranger pilot! BTW thanks again for the therapy flight the other week!

Yeah I'm detouring to Temora to catch up with a mate. If I wasn't doing so I would cut up through Broken Hill to folk I know at Dirranbandi.

Thanks Camel Some good advice. I drove over with the family at the beginning of January and did a bit of a reckie on the way. Strips didn't seem too bad, at Caiguna and Nullabor, but I will have a look at Mundrabilla on country airstrips guide. The wife must have been driving and me asleep when we went through there. I am planning to pack the sleeping bag and a tent to keep costs as low as possible. But then I am stopping with a mate at Temora for a few drinks and a catch up, hence the detour to southern NSW.

Hi I am hoping to use 95+ ULP as much as possible. I keep two empty plastic jerry cans in the back and a Mr funnel and can hump fuel from the bowser to the plane if I need to.

I fly a Skyranger Swift with a rotax 912. You can check out my plane build and flying videos at http://friarflyer.blogspot.com.au/ And as for the stops you can see the stops on the map with the pins and the airport markers

Hi folks At the end of May 2013 or thereabouts I am planning to fly across Australia. Below is my planned route. Any comments, wisdom, or advice welcome. Friarpuk

Forgot to ask. What kind of prop are you spinning?

Jim an exceptional job. Building a second plane is still only a distant dream for me. But still I can't wait to do things again with a bit of experience under the belt. I built mine in about 228 hrs but must say by the pics yours looks a bit more polished than my bird! Heath

You'll enjoy flying her as much as building her! Congrats Friarpuk

Was that before or after the Aussie dollar rose against the Euro and the US dollar? And does that include a new 912uls? When I was looking around what to buy and build the Sav was not any cheaper and required a lot more work to complete. The worst job I had with the skyranger was fitting the wind screen, and most of the fear was cutting the polycarbonate hoping my measurements and rechecks were right. And then flexing it into place was a 2 person job finicky job. But the most mundane job compared to painting was doing up the stitching for the skin the length of the fuse underside. You won't have that issue with a Nynja as they are fibreglass panels.

Nice paint job on the Sav! Back to the beloved Skyranger though! One good thing to think about is the balance of stol and cruise speed. I have always tended towards more stol but now am glad I have gone the Skyranger route! Even though my Swift will get off the deck and climb out at 1200-1300 fpm it still crusies around the 90kts. The Swift wing is lower profile than most chunky stol wings and it also has a higher wing load. The point being you don't get flogged as much in turbulent conditions. I can speak for the sav but compared to the foxbat the Skyranger is a much better ride and a little quicker too.

Don't know! Guess the smoke haze rising from the humpies in the scrub was affecting my judgement. Hey at 500 agl you can still fly high!

I borrowed 60 to buy and build my swift with a 912. That was without an AH and a transponder, but with a garmin 296 gps. Would be able to do it for a lot less now the Euro is lower than when I bought the kit in 2008. The beauty of the Skyranger is you can make it light and basic or stick lots of whistles and bells in it.

This is short final Runway 14 Myrup at Esperance. At #3 you shouldn't have to chase the roos off the strip!

Reminds me of doing a nav exercise at 500 agl over Tara area, out there they use shot guns not arrows to protect thier "crops"!

Sitting here burning in my frustration at not flying for what seems like an eternity, while still paying rego, insurance, licencing fees, ASIC, and other incidentals, my buring desire to chuck a hissy fit leads me to ask others about interest in setting up an airparks and/or building hangars on council strips, somewhere on the Western Downs or South Burnett of Southern QLD. Now some might think the likes of Dalby, Chinchilla, Kingaroy, or Wondai to be out in the sticks, but the big advantage I see is that these places are outside or under airspace restictions while still being near enough to reach most costal destinations within an hour or so in a 90 kt aircraft. Basically I am bored to tears, not working, but looking, with my plane in WA where I use to work and now living in Kingaroy where I want to work. Perhaps my dream job would be managing a small RPT airport, fixing the mowers, mowing the grass, painting the piano keys and strip markers. Then at least I would be able to appease my insatiable apetite to fly, build, and watch others fly. The bottom line is I don't want to be a developer tycoon rolling in cash (as nice as that might be) but to manipulate the system enough to house my plane, fuel it, and safely fly it, while keeping the family fed and happily settled here. Any ideas folks (or jobs)? Then the idea of starting an airpark or building a stack of hangars somewhere in the South Burnett has taken root within in recent days of frustration. It seems hangars around here are as rare as hen's teeth and from what I have heard south east Queensland coastal hangar rents are ridiculous for the low to middle income earners to afford. This is what I am and why I have gone RAA, not being able to afford the upkeep or patience of jumping the GA hurdles. Forgive me for my rant here! Going outside and chucking a hissy fit or throwing a spanner is of no use. After all one has to find the spanner and come back inside at some stage! So asking the question here whether there is any interest in the RAA GA community for a hangar building programme or a reasonably priced all weather grass/gravel strip airpark???? Does this spark any interst and would it be worth the trouble of starting the process of council negotiations, etc. ???? Ah rant finished, but still need to fly!

Hi I realise this thread is old but have just read it for the first time. Meandarra is a good strip and have landed and taken off from there (as a passenger) in a Aerocomander Shrike, and they need a bit length for takeoff. Then after learning to fly myself have landed a Jabiru j230 there a couple of times. Once in a howling cross wind. The centre of the strip has a shallow gully through it that the council needed to pave to make it an all weather strip. I used it as a fly in fly out padre.